Perstorp Oxo declares force majeure on oxos production

20 July 2009 12:44[Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Sweden’s Perstorp Oxo has declared force majeure on oxo-alcohol and plasticiser deliveries from its Stenungsund site due to a production stoppage at its raw material supplier, the company said on Monday.

Perstorp Oxo declared force majeure on supplies of butanols, 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH), 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), propionic acid, dioctyl phthalate (DOP), n-butyraldehyde, iso-butyraldehyde and propionaldehyde, the company said in a 17 July statement to its customers.

A breakdown on 15 July at Perstorp Oxo's main raw material supplier, also based in Stenungsund, forced the company to close down its oxo-alcohols facility, the statement added.

Perstorp Oxo’s upstream supplier is Borealis. However, Borealis was unavailable for comment.

A source from Perstorp Oxo said that the facility was still running but at very low rates.

Due to a lack of raw materials, various lines at Stenungsund would be shut down intermittently for as long as feedstock supply was restricted, the source said.

Perstorp Oxo was unable to assess how long the shutdowns would last, as it would be determined by its raw material supplier, the source said.

The Perstorp Oxo source said it was trying to minimise the impact of the force majeure on its customers and was currently attempting to source oxo-alcohols from fellow producers.

“Inspection and an impact assessment are presently being conducted at our supplier. On the basis of the results hereof, we will revert to you as soon as possible with further information on our delivery capacity in the short term and when we expect full production to be resumed,” Perstorp Oxo said in its statement to customers, which was dated 17 July.

The company’s Stenungsund facility consists of a range of plants, including a 100,000 tonne/year n-butanol plant, a 120,000 tonne/year of 2-EH unit and a 65,000 tonne/year DOP plant.